Rajasthan Indira Mahila Shakti Udaan Yojana (Free Sanitary Napkin Scheme)

What is the Indira Mahila Shakti Udaan Yojana?

Rajasthan Indira Mahila Shakti Udaan Yojana is the state's free sanitary napkin programme, run by the Women and Child Development / Women Empowerment Department, Government of Rajasthan. Rajasthan launched it on 19 September 2021 and it sits inside the wider Indira Mahila Shakti umbrella of women's empowerment programmes. It is commonly called simply Udaan Yojana, and state paperwork also refers to it as the Menstrual Hygiene Scheme (MHS).

The benefit is deliberately simple. Every covered girl or woman gets a packet of 12 sanitary napkins a month, free, handed over at the place she is already registered, a government school, a college, a residential hostel or the anganwadi centre in her village or ward. There is no form, no card and no income test at the counter.

Why Rajasthan built the scheme this way

• Cost is only half the problem with menstrual hygiene; availability at the right place is the other half. Distributing through schools and anganwadi centres puts the packet where the beneficiary already goes.
• Girls dropping out of school around puberty was one of the stated reasons for the scheme. Free napkins at school directly target attendance in the higher primary and secondary years.
• Handing over through the anganwadi network extends the same benefit to women who are not students, including in remote blocks.

Scale and money

• Rajasthan announced a budget provision of about Rs 200 crore for the scheme.
• The first phase was designed to reach roughly 28 to 30 lakh girls and women through government schools and selected anganwadi centres.
• The announced full coverage target has been stated at around 1.2 to 1.5 crore women and girls, taking in other educational institutions, all anganwadi centres and social welfare hostels.
• Rajasthan Medical Services Corporation Limited (RMSCL) handles procurement of the napkins, which are then routed down the school and anganwadi supply chain.

Who is eligible for the free sanitary napkins?

You can receive the packet if:

• You are a resident of Rajasthan and a girl or woman of reproductive age; state announcements describe this as roughly 10 to 45 years, with some documents using 11 to 45.
• You are enrolled in a government school in Rajasthan, in the classes covered by the distribution in your district.
• You are a student of a government college, ITI or polytechnic covered by the roll-out.
• You live in a government or social welfare hostel covered by the scheme.
• You are a woman registered with, or resident in the catchment of, an anganwadi centre distributing under the scheme.

Who cannot apply / is not eligible:

• Male students. The scheme is for girls and women only.
• Residents of other states. Udaan runs on Rajasthan's own school and anganwadi network.
• Students of private institutions that are outside the distribution network, as far as collecting from that institution is concerned. Such a girl should approach the anganwadi centre for her ward or village instead.
• No one is excluded on income grounds. Udaan is a universal scheme within the covered institutions; there is no BPL condition, no caste category condition and no Chiranjeevi requirement.

What documents do you need?

Effectively none. This is the most important practical fact about the scheme, and the one most often misreported:

1. A schoolgirl needs nothing beyond being on the school register. Her class teacher or the designated woman teacher distributes the packets.
2. A college or hostel student collects against the institutional roll.
3. A woman collecting at an anganwadi centre may be asked for her Jan Aadhaar number so the worker can complete the distribution register. This is record-keeping, not an eligibility test.
4. No income certificate, no caste certificate, no ration card and no application form is required at any point.

How to apply for and collect Udaan Yojana napkins: step by step

1. Identify your collection point. If you are studying in a government school or college, that institution is your point. If you are not a student, it is the anganwadi centre for your village or ward.
2. Ask the designated person. In schools this is normally a woman teacher nominated for the scheme; in anganwadi centres it is the anganwadi worker or the ASHA attached to the centre.
3. Collect the monthly packet. You receive 12 napkins for the month. Sign or mark the distribution register if asked — that register is what the department uses to raise the next month's indent.
4. Collect every month. Stock is issued against recorded demand, so a girl who stops collecting can be dropped from the indent. If you miss a month, tell the teacher or worker so your name stays on the list.
5. If there is no stock, escalate rather than give up: head of institution → anganwadi supervisor / Child Development Project Officer → Women Helpline 181 or Rajasthan Sampark.

How the supply chain works

Understanding the chain helps when packets do not arrive:

• RMSCL procures the napkins centrally for the state.
• Stock moves to district and block warehouses of the Women and Child Development / education departments.
• Schools and anganwadi centres raise a monthly indent based on the number of girls and women on their register.
• Distribution happens at the institution, recorded in a register that becomes the basis of the next indent.

A break at any of these four points shows up as "no napkins this month" at the counter, which is why complaints naming the specific centre and month are more effective than general ones.

How to check whether your area is covered

• Jan Soochna Portal (jansoochna.rajasthan.gov.in) publishes scheme-wise information for Rajasthan departments and is the state's own transparency route.
• Your anganwadi worker holds the local distribution register and can say plainly whether the centre is receiving stock.
• The Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) at block level is the official who can confirm coverage and chase a shortfall.

Common problems and how to deal with them

Rajasthan has faced public criticism over the scheme, including reported incidents of undistributed napkins being destroyed and questions about napkin size when beneficiary numbers were widened. Those are real reported problems with implementation, not with a beneficiary's entitlement, the entitlement of 12 free napkins a month stands regardless.

Where to complain

• Women Helpline 181, Rajasthan's women's helpline, the fastest route for a napkin distribution complaint.
• Anganwadi supervisor / CDPO, the departmental chain for anganwadi distribution.
• Head of institution and Block Education Officer, for school and college distribution.
• Rajasthan Sampark, the state grievance portal, which gives a written complaint a tracking number you can follow.

Because Udaan Yojana asks nothing of the beneficiary except that she turn up, there is no legitimate agent, middleman or paid registration anywhere in it. Anyone charging for "Udaan Yojana registration" is running a scam.